East End Notebook: Civic Group Cites Homeless as School Tax Burden

RIVERHEAD

Puppy Experience Owner: Lawsuit Coming

After months of protesters gathering outside The Puppy Experience on Route 25 in Aquebogue, the matter could soon be before a judge.

Scott Kaphan, owner of the Puppy Experience, said Wednesday that information has been gathered, and is still being collected, and a "suit is coming."

For weeks, representatives of the Companion Animal Protection Society have been demonstrating outside the Puppy Experience in an effort to raise awareness about puppy mills. One week, police were called after demonstrators parked at the nearby Aquebogue Elementary School parking lot; Kaphan'sattorney has sent CAPS and cease and desist letter and said a lawsuit could follow. 

NORTH FORK

Southold Marine Charged Following Taliban Corpse Desecration Video

A Southold High School graduate and staff sergeant in the U.S. Marines will face charges after being referred to a court martial trial on Friday, according to the Suffolk Times.

After a video appeared on YouTube last winter depicting U.S. soldiers urinating on Taliban corpses, the Marine Corps launched an investigation into the incident. No soldiers were identified in the video.

According to military officials, the incident reportedly took place during a counterinsurgency operation near Sandala in the Musa Qala district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province on or around July 27, 2011.

SOUTHAMPTON

Village Hall to Get Elevator; Building Department to Move Back In

Southampton Village Hall may finally be getting an elevator, which would bring the building closer to Americans with Disabilities Act standards and enable the village Building Department to move back in.

The Building Department and fire marshals have been in rented space at the 71 Hill Street complex since moving out of Village Hall in 2006, and the village has been paying more than $50,000 per year in rent, Mayor Mark Epley said Wednesday.

The Building Department, which was located where the treasurer's office is now, had outgrown its office space, and was probably in Village Hall 15 years longer than it should have been, he said.

WESTHAMPTON-HAMPTON BAYS

New Civic Cites Homeless Families as Tax Burden in School District

The newly-formed group, Concerned Citizens of Hampton Bays have released data that shows 2.8 percent of the Hampton Bays School District's student body is made up of kids that make their home at a hotel, motel or homeless shelter.

According to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the group, of the district's 2,031 students, 43 reside at a motel or hotel and 13 at the controversial Suffolk County homeless shelter at the Hidden Cove Motel.

EAST HAMPTON

DA: Case Will Be Dismissed Against Driver in Fatal Crash

A charge of driving under the influence of drugs in the East Hampton accident that killed a Virginia man will be dismissed against Brian K. Midgett, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Midgett's attorney, Susan Menu, said on Thursday that the toxicology reports showed no drugs or alcohol in his system and cellphone records proved he was not talking or texting on his cellphone at the time of the crash.

Following her announcement, DA spokesman Robert Clifford said he expects the pending charge in East Hampton Town Justice Court to be dismissed at the next scheduled court date on Oct. 4.